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AOL Close To Selling IM Service

Sources tell BoomTown that AOL is close to selling off its ICQ instant messaging service, having trimmed down a list of seven suitors to four. The price for the service is rumored to be just under $200 million. The negotiations are part of a broader effort by AOL to deleverage non-core units in the wake of its separation from Time Warner. Sources say that the solicitation of bids is now over, and that there are four "serious" ones, which one source calls a "'U.N. of buyers.'"

"Translation: The bidders are likelier to be one of many international Internet companies rather than a U.S. one," writes BoomTown. AOL has been taking all proposals through its investment bankers, Allen & Co. and Morgan Stanley.

Read the whole story at All Things D »

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